NEW YORK CITY — The Coalition of Transportation Associations (COTA) hosted its first regional event on Sept. 21 in Long Island City, bringing more than 200 association leaders and members from the area to a conference to discuss legislative and regulatory issues which affect all of them.

The organization was launched in November 2011 by former New York City Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Matt Daus, who is its president and a partner in the New York law firm of Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf. He is also the president of the International Association of Transportation Regulators.

The group was formed when area members got together to discuss a proposed change in the insurance requirements in New York City, Daus said. COTA now is currently working to eliminate the sales tax on service in New York and to address issues with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission on inspections of new vehicles.

Daus believes the industry needs fewer regulations than other industries such as taxicabs because of the nature of limousine clients. “If your car is not the best and your service is not great, the client will fire you,” Daus said.

“Thank you for including me. I am thrilled and delighted that this group has organized,” Yassky said. “We want to continue to work with the industry as a partner. When you are doing well, the TLC is doing well. We will always have tons of issues, especially about apps. The only constant these days is change. We will work with the industry and the public to tackle these issues. We will work with all of the stakeholders. New York City is at the forefront for technology. . . Our rules need to be modernized. How do you integrate security and credit card security? With taxi applications, we only had one leak and it wasn’t because of the technology, but rather the processors. We take security extremely serious,” Yassky said.